US to UN Women: Stop Pushing Gender Ideology

By and Iulia-Elena Cazan

NEW YORK, September 12 (C-Fam) U.S. diplomats lambasted the UN women’s agency for promoting gender ideology and abortion, calling out the agency’s efforts to “eradicate the biological reality of sex.”

Under instructions from the Trump administration, U.S. diplomats refused to endorse UN Women’s new four-year strategic plan and called out the agency for refusing to “protect biological reality.” The U.S. delegation voted against the strategy during a meeting of the Executive Board of the agency on Wednesday. It was the first time that the agency’s strategic plan was voted on, as it is normally adopted unanimously.

While the U.S. delegation was alone in voting against the plan, ten other delegations, mostly from Africa and the Middle East. Also India and Russia expressed concerns about UN Women’s work on gender and sexual rights.

A U.S. diplomat told the agency, “We cannot endorse a plan that contains elements that are at odds with U.S. policy,” specifically, gender ideology. He said such policies were “detrimental to the well-being of women and girls.”

The new Strategic Plan for UN Women includes references to “sexual orientation and gender identity”, “sexual and reproductive health and rights”, and intersectionality. These are terms used by UN agencies to promote abortion, gender ideology, and sexual rights for children. Even though these terms are rejected multiple times every year by the UN General Assembly, UN agencies and Western donors use strategic plans as a way to create controversial mandates for UN agencies without support from the wider UN membership.

The U.S. delegate emphasized that there were no international commitments to these controversial terms, and that there is no international right to abortion.

“Over time, radical ideologues have used deceptive language to undermine women and distort reality,” the US delegate said. “The Trump Administration is restoring truth by confirming biological reality and standing up for women, families and the values that make America stronger than ever.”

The US specifically asked UN Women to recognize that “women are biologically female, and men are biologically male” and “focus on its core mandate to promote the success of women and girls. The United States strongly opposes the inclusion of harmful gender ideology as we believe it is detrimental to the well-being of women and girls.”

Saudi Arabia, Burkina Faso, Uganda, Senegal, UAE, Qatar, Paraguay, Zimbabwe, Mauritania, Russia, and Egypt also delivered statements against the controversial terminology.

The delegate of Uganda emphasized that “International bodies do not have authority to impose new obligations on sovereign states.” He distanced Uganda from the controversial terms in the strategic plan of the UN agency. “My country, like many other countries in the world, does not recognize these notions as legal categories. In fact, because of the fluidity and subjective character of the concepts of orientation and gender identity, the terms have no widely accepted legal or scientific meaning.”

A delegate of India also reproached UN Women. She complained that issues such as gender and poverty, education, skills development “seemed sidelined” in the new strategic plan.

“UN Women should also be cautious not to be carried away by narratives that rely too heavily on the perspectives of activists, academics, or advocacy groups without understanding the ground realities and social contexts. While these voices are important, overreliance of their inputs can overlook existing complexities,” she said.

A delegate from Russia agreed with the concerns expressed by the U.S. government. “We fully understand and share the concerns expressed by the United States delegation regarding the content of the document,” he said. He accused UN Women of trying to isolate traditional peoples through censorship under the pretext of fighting “a so-called pushback against gender equality.” And he criticized “the use of unapproved gender terminology,” explaining that “promotion of concepts of gender identity and sexual orientation are absolutely unacceptable to our delegation” and lamenting the “creeping advancement of the rights of sexual minorities.” He said such issues “fall outside of the mandate trusted to UN Women” and sowed “discord in societies which choose to live according to traditional values.”

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter